Dedications Slated for Fitness and Health Sciences Centers

Ribbons for two brand-new facilities will be cut on Tuesday, August 24.

The dedication ceremony for the Fitness Center will take place at noon at the building’s west entrance, facing the Campus Center. A similar ceremony for the Center for Health Sciences will take place 45 minutes later, at that building’s north entrance, facing the fountains — or in the building atrium in case of rain. The events are open to all interested students, faculty, staff, and members of the Ithaca community.

The Center for Health Sciences will be open for the first day of fall semester classes on August 25. The Fitness Center is scheduled to be open for use later in the fall.

Richard Miller ’69, M.S. ’71, dean of the School of Health Sciences and Human Performance, will deliver the opening remarks at the Fitness Center dedication. Also speaking will be President Peggy R. Williams; Brad Buchanan, director of recreational sports; and student trustee Kyle Johnson ’00.

"I’m very excited about the new Fitness Center," Buchanan says. "Having these kinds of recreational opportunities available to our student body and the rest of the campus community is going to give us something the College has needed for years." Following the formal dedication, students, faculty, and staff will have a chance to inspect the 40,000-square-foot facility. Tours will be held every half hour between 3:00 and 5:00 p.m.

In addition to two gyms, the new building features an aerobic room/dance studio, a 100-station exercise area, and day locker rooms for men and women.

The 12:45 p.m. dedication of the Center for Health Sciences will feature a welcome by Miller as well as remarks by Williams; president emeritus James J. Whalen; Janet Wigglesworth, assistant professor of exercise and sport sciences; and Herman E. Muller Jr. ’51, chairman of the board of trustees.

"We’ve been thinking about facilities expansion for a long time," Miller says. "Our student enrollment has grown, largely because few other undergraduate programs in the country have the dimensions we have. The new Center for Health Sciences will enhance our already excellent national reputation as a leader in undergraduate health education."

An open house at the Center for Health Sciences will start at 1:15 p.m. In addition to a tour of the computer center on the first floor, demonstrations will be given in the activities for daily living area, pediatric laboratory, adult rehabilitation laboratory, and multipurpose room in the occupational therapy area.

There will be additional demonstrations in the physical therapy and exercise sciences areas, the occupational and physical therapy clinic, and the Gerontology Institute, now located on the building’s fourth floor.